Archie Zietman

I heard 1085, but that seems a bit high. I spark tested a few of mine and they seemed medium carbon.
I use one with a piece of soapstone when demonstrating. Very macho blackboard. :D

A clean floor is indespensible. Mine gets all the fall leaves blown in through the un-walls, so I have to rake around the forging area. Keep it, and the table-where-I-keep-stuff clean.

It does seem to defeat the purpose t buy them. If there are railroads, use spikes, there are other sources of scrap steel everywhere, be inventive.

convenience...store.

Woohoo! Try starting out with a lighter hammer, like, 2 lb or 1.5 even. You can forge for longer while still moving metal efficiently.

Make sure to show us some projectses. Always going into the forge with a plan helps with productivity, as in you actually make stuff that way. :D

Johnny House Lamps? Googlified it, but still unsure what it is.

Hello,
I just got me 8 feet of 3/16ths round, and 8 feet of 5/16ths round. I am probably going to do a bunch of drive hooks from the 3/16ths, and maybe a lizard or two from some of the 5/16ths along with some 1/2 inch I have lying around, but I am wondering whether anybody has any suggestions for other things?
Thanks,
Archie

Hello.
Just found this, this guy melts glass in a few seconds using a big lens, could do that to get specific heats on steel too.
Sundrop Jewelry - Sterling Silver and Glass Solar Energy Jewelry

Merry Being,
Archie

Very fun! Kaboom! The man was very funny too, very witty!

When your English teacher laughs his head off at you because you thought the poem about "yon lassie's flowing locks" was about a woman locksmith...true story, very very embarrassing.

good work! exactly like my first piece! :D

pikkies of the forge at work. Yesterday (the picture day) I almost-finished some fancy candle sticks, and I knocked out a drive hook and a little s-hook for my room both in 5 minutes. Uses a little more than a gallon in 3 hours, on full blast, which is really efficient.
Overall, its beautiful though loud (hearing protection earmuffs). I get yellow heats really quickly (less than a minute for up to 1/2 inch square stock) and can work up to 4 pieces at a time. Also, the heat is always constant and I don't have to worry about hollow fires, it's a very predictable and easy to use forge. woohoo!
(also, I finished my college applications, so can now forge on saturdays)
Merry being,
Archie

Take a 2 foot by 2 foot by 1 foot deep wooden box, fill it with dirt, dif a hole in it, stick a pipe in it and use it for either coal or charcoal or corn or wood chips. It actually works really well.
Good luck,
Merry Being,
Archie

Hello,
I am wondering whether people could suggest a few projects which are useful in the modern day. I've found myself making a lot of s and drive hooks recently, and want to make other things. Are there projects which people carry around with them? (Bottle openers, buckles etc?)
Thanks eversomuch,
Archie

G'day,
m'k

Well, backyardmetalcasting.com has a lot about separate body burners for foundries, they get hot enough, so I figured, why not try, but have air and oil burn completely in one chamber, so that there wouldn't be any heat lost, nor would there be the fiddliness of a huge separate body insulated burner to hook up to the foundry, a whole lot more compact.

I have a 1/16th inch diameter needle valve to control the flow, it varies a bit with the amount of oil in the tank pushing it through, but not too much, I just keep it topped up and its' fine. Tomorrow I'll get running pictures.

Gravity. I attached a diagram, I'll get pictures when I use it next, on Wednesday.

Here's a pikkie of the forge right before the run, it don't look too different, except that the metal is now matte black around the holes. I need to plug up the area around the burner, unburnt oil vapor was coming through it, at varying rates.

It also has a slide-choke on the T-coupling, to manage the air, though I have just kept the air on full blast and just monitored the oil with the needle valve.

used cooking oil, but it'll run on motor oil if you want it to. I'll put a blueprint together.

Hello!
I just tested out my wvo forge, and it works beautifully. It used about a quart of old canola oil in about an hour, and can get up to bright yellow heats with ease. With it, I can work several pieces in the forge at once as well. Only drawback is that it is rather loud.
Just figured I'd post about it,
Merry Being,
Archie

When I was using coal with another blacksmith, he stored it outside the forge, just on the ground hemmed in by a few walls to keep it from washing away.

Your dog has a fine name sir!
Looks like a good shop!

Gosh, you have been productive these past few weeks! I like it!